It's always fun and surprising to find out about the hidden talents and obscure hobbies of fellow graphic designers, typographers, and type designers. As we all are in an artistic profession chances are that this artistic trait isn't limited to what we do professionally. Personally I have been delighted to challenge TYPO Berlin 2007 – Music that he was an original member of Mercury Rev, one of my favourite bands of the late 90s–early 2000s (he now has his own band Odiorne). We even have a band entirely made up of type designers with Wolfraam. The number of musicians, photographers, fine artists, and so on amidst our ranks is staggering.

Photo by Omar Richardson

So you can imagine I was intrigued when I read a stray comment on Twitter about an impromptu yoyo demonstration. Just prior to the Type Quiz a graphic designer and recent SCAD graduate started doing a freestyle that left everyone flabbergasted. After finding out via Julia Ruzich and Ivo Gabrowitsch that his name was Mark Montgomery I was shocked to discover he is a world class pro yoyo champion, sponsored by One Drop and currently throwing his own signature yoyo, the MarkMont. Damn, the days that you could get away with busting a move on the dance floor at TypeCon are officially over. This is something else!

2008 International Yo-Yo Open – 1A – Mark Montgomery from Box thor on Vimeo.

More videos on YouTube.

More reports

Some more TypeCon2009 – Rhythm reports have surfaced – one excellent write-up entitled More Than a Typographic Lovefest by Allen Haley, and an account of the Hatch Show Print Workshop on Mary Ferguson Huddleston's Diversions blog. Go check them out!

Header imageMark Montgomery with a MarkMont Project by Omar Richardson